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Archives for February 2017

If you do one simple thing to change your diner game, make your own salad dressing. You heard me, right? Just checking… It takes five minutes and uses only four ingredients that you should have stocked in your pantry or fridge. The return on flavor (not to mention the health benefits of ditching bottled salad dressing) are immeasurable. I won’t lecture…

Our menus have been very “clean” lately, because we aren’t cooking with wheat, soy, corn, dairy or beef (and a long list of other items). I don’t want my family to really notice a huge change in our dinner routine, so I’ve been scouring the internet for flavorful, allergy-free family meals. I’ve also been tweaking some of our family…

It’s a short week, which means a shorter weekly meal plan for some of you. If you can’t quite pull yourself out of the relaxation after the long weekend, just brainstorm three easy meals for mid-week. Friday can either be a pantry meal, like spaghetti and Rao’s marinara, or a big pot of “clean out the crisper”…

Goat cheese is one of those foods that takes me back to living in San Francisco in the late 90s (wow…that makes me sound old!). Cheese makers like Laura Chenel were gaining cult status, and chèvre was front and center thanks to restaurants like Chez Panisse. It would garnish just about everything: soups, simple green salads and pizzas….

SUNDAY We had one of our old favorites, spatchcocked chicken with shallots, that cooks in about 35 minutes. Paired with sautéed greens and Serious Eats’ crispy roasted potatoes, it was a winner, winner chicken dinner. MONDAY I’m trying Bon Appetit’s method for oven risotto. Sunday night we used up all our kale (and collards and spinach) in…

I have a salt tooth. And a sweet tooth. Which is the problem, but we won’t get into that. To satisfy that salt craving, there’s nothing like the briny, pungent and flavorful pop of warm spiced olives. I developed a serious olive habit in college during a semester abroad in Athens, studying Greek (which didn’t stick) and…

This weekend went by way too fast, and it seems like the whole month of February will be gone in the blink of an eye. This is the time of year that starts to feel like an all-out sprint. Today we made a mad dash for new shoes, lacrosse gear, class party treats and new ingredients for…

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Marcia Smart is a cooking instructor, recipe developer and food writer who wants to help you make good, simple meals for your family and friends. She craves food that's seasonal and delicious and wants to share it with you. A California girl living in a Houston world with her husband and three children.